Sailing the US and Spanish Virgin Islands
May 21 - 28, 2023
Click here to go to my favorite gallery images
Go Back to The Recent Images Gallery
.A fantastic voyage (sweat, sunscreen and salt mist) May 21 - 28, 2023.
My friend Dan and another hardy soul, Bruce, a friend of Dans, and I embarked on
a 6 day sail on Sadalbari, a 41’ sailboat. We departed the Compass Point Marina
on the island of St. Thomas on Monday May 22 after a peaceful overnight on our
sailing vessel. The next 6 days were filled with clouds, blue sky, unbelievably
blue water, great food and companionship, and lots of sweat, sunscreen and salt
water mist. My glasses were forever covered in that slime (as well as my body).
A shower never felt so good!
Upon arrival at the marina we stocked the boat with food ordered ahead of time
and delivered Sunday evening. Secondly, we had a briefing on the operation of
the boat and where critical things were located on the boat. We learned the
operation of the anchor (and where the spare anchor was located) and where fuel
and water intakes are among other important things like how the head operates.
We departed late Monday morning and headed out to sea in a light rain. Thunder
could be heard rumbling across the water. And occasionally we could see
lightning in the distance. I’m told if we were to be struck by lightning it
would conduct directly from the mast down and out through the keel. One can only
hope it never happens.
Dan is an expert captain. Bruce was learning. I was relearning from my earlier
trips in 2014 and 2016. Each of the ropes controls various aspects of the sails.
They each have a unique name. And lucky for us they are all color coded so most
times it was easier to tell us which color to pull or release. Much of it came
back quickly. We did have one more crew member, Auto. I think his last name was
Pilot (as in Auto Pilot). That crew member was helpful on the long hauls.
Our original plan was to sail to Saint John for some snorkeling and good dinners
before heading out to the Island of Culebra which is part of Puerto Rico and
then sail the long haul to St. Croix where we’d spend a day before the long haul
back to Saint John. However, the wind was not favorable. Seems it would have
taken us most of the daylight to get there. It’s not wise (nor is it allowed in
the rental agreement) to sail in darkness. So we abandoned that plan.
We spent two days at Saint John sailing, snorkeling at Trunk Bay and eating well
in Cruz Bay. After spending two nights at Honeymoon Bay on Saint John, we sailed
over to Culebrita, one of the far east islands of Puerto Rico. We spent a
beautiful afternoon anchored at Playa Tortuga with lunch on the boat and some
swimming in the most unbelievable blue water. From this beautiful spot we sailed
to Culebra and tied off at a mooring ball in Ensenada Honda for a calm night. We
motored in our dinghy over to the little town and ate some very fine food at the
Dinghy Dock. We forgot our flashlights that night so it was a dark 1.2 mile ride
back to the boat. Luckily we had some shore lights as a landmark to target in
our night voyage.
In the morning we were greeted by a long lasting bright rainbow suggesting it
was going to be a great day to sail. We were also greeted by a nice neighbor who
told us we were in a private area where the owner lived across the bay and was
probably watching. After breakfast we disconnected from the mooring ball and
headed out and around the island. No one came chasing us. Culebra is a beautiful
place. We sailed clockwise through the Canal de Luis Peña ending up at Bahía
Flamenco where we anchored for much of the day. This place has nearly a mile
long white sand beach lined on one side with palm trees and the other with
various shades of crystal clear blue water. Plan was to lunch on the boat but
that shifted to one of the kiosks on shore for a beautiful inexpensive lunch of
Empanadillas and Coke. We lunched at a table in a breezy shady location. This is
a beautiful place and was difficult to leave.
From Bahía Flamenco we sailed in the late afternoon light around the rest of
Culebra to settle for the night in Bahía de Almodóvar. While it was on the sea
it was separated by a very shallow reef allowing for a very calm night yet with
a nice sea breeze. The access was via Puerto del Manglar and some careful
maneuvering by our captain to avoid the shallows. It was us and two other
smaller fishing boats. Very little light allowed us to ogle once again the
beautiful night sky. We were far from any town so Bruce cooked up a meal of
scrambled eggs and ham. It was mighty tasty!
The next day we sailed back to St. Thomas and settled for the night at Christmas
Cove. Turns out we did not need to venture far for dinner. There is a pizza shop
in a boat anchored in the cove. We ordered by phone and wandered over in the
dinghy to pick up the large NY style pizza, a pitcher of piña coladas, and 6
Cokes. It was a very tasty meal and there were no leftovers. The piña colada
tasted great with the pizza. Who’d have thought that?
Saturday, our final day of sailing, the winds were awesome and Dan let out the
sails and we let the wind take us on a very fine ride between Saint John and St.
Thomas with the end being back at Compass Point Marina where our journey had
begun 6 days earlier. We spent our final night on the boat moored to the dock.
We ate our final supper at The Dive Bar, a local hang out spot that’s not much
larger than the boat that was our home for the week.
It’s always kind of sad to end such a glorious trip but it is always good to
head home to my own bed. My homeward journey took me from St. Thomas to Columbus
via JFK. It was pretty much uneventful.
What will the next adventure be?
On to the images that record this awesome trip. They are from three cameras. I’m
still shooting my Sony A99 along with my Olympus TG4 for underwater photography.
The third camera is from my iPhone that I’m still figuring out. The biggest
challenges are the moving boat and all the humidity. I included a few images
that are less than stellar just because they help with the story of this trip.
Hope you enjoy these images!